Australia star Mitch Marsh hit a scintillating century to help last-placed Lucknow Super Giants snap a six-match losing streak with a win over defending champion Royal Challengers Bengaluru in a rain-affected Indian Premier League game on Friday (AEST).
In the nine-run victory on DLS Method, Marsh smashed 111 off 56 balls with nine sixes and nine fours in Lucknow's total of 3-209 after the game was reduced to 19-overs-a-side due to rain interruptions during Lucknow's innings and Bengaluru's target was revised to 213.
Marsh eventually fell to fellow Aussie Josh Hazlewood (1-49) but the damage had been done.
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"It has been a tough season, nice to get on the right side, really good for morale, disappointing season until today," Marsh said.
"A few of the Indian boys said before the game the pitch looked better so I tried to maximise the powerplay. I just tried to get as many as I could in the powerplay, get a good start and have an impact on the game, it's an area we haven't got right so far. I think we batted well last two games, 10-15 short in Mumbai.
"We were courageous in the way we bowled tonight. Bangalore bat deep, really proud of the young guys in our attack."
India legend Virat Kohli fell for a two-ball duck in Bengaluru's chase of 6-203 when his off stump was knocked over by Prince Yadav (3-33) in the second over.
Captain Rajat Patidar smacked 61 off 31 balls while Australia's Tim David (40), Krunal Pandya (28 not out) and Romario Shepherd (23 not out) also played cameos to bring Bengaluru close to the target.
Bengaluru stayed at No.3 on the points table.
https://x.com/IPL/status/2052441320892019103?s=20
Lucknow remained at the bottom of the table after its third win of the season.
"It was a good game for us, for sure," captain Rishabh Pant said.
"We have been trying a lot of things, it means a lot for us. We have been trying to put together a perfect game where batting and bowling comes together, we have had some bad luck, but really happy to get a win here."
Kohli's first IPL duck since 2023 left Bengaluru struggling at 2-9, but Patidar revived hopes with his aggressive batting – especially against fast bowler Mayank Yadav (0-50) and spinner Digvesh Rathi (0-50).
The return of Prince in the 11th over earned Lukcnow wickets of Devdutt Padikkal, who got deceived by a slower ball, and struggling Jitesh Sharma, who top-edged a pull shot to Pant behind the wickets.
Shahbaz Ahmed's return to in Lucknow's starting lineup also paid off as he dismissed Patidar in his first over and then when David looked to take the game away, he had the Australian caught at cover point in the 16th over.
With Bengaluru needing 20 off Rathi's final over, the spinner conceded just one boundary to seal the game for Lucknow.
"We were sure of how we wanted to go about the target," Patidar said.
"We did well, just one or two shots behind… difficult to analyse just after the game, but we have four games more (and) we're taking it one step at a time."
Earlier, Marsh's second 50-plus score of the season set the tone for Lucknow's challenging total.
His aggression against the pace in the power play saw him completing the half-century off only 20 balls before he raised his first hundred of the season off 49 balls.
Lucknow had raced to 0-95 in nine overs when rain briefly stopped play, but Marsh not only dominated the pace of his fellow Australian Josh Hazlewood, he was also equally aggressive against Suyash Sharma and Krunal Pandya, scoring 90 of his runs in boundaries.
Pant then provided a perfect finish with a quickfire 32 off 10 balls as the Lucknow skipper smashed the last three balls from Rasikh Salam Dar for 4, 4, 6 and Lucknow added 64 runs of their last five overs.
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